Jong Batu
Eastwards and
Eastwards of home the
Unfilial son meets the filial sun.
His face alights.
A shadow puppet show.
THE CITY
Is a blur of pigeon and sky. Music
Drifts down the streets like
Gondolas in a water city.
And the din! Gab, gossip,
Confession, entreaty. Merchants
With their wares: tortoiseshell
Comb and pearl. Reams
Of cloth (patterned, silk, gold).
Figurines etched from wood.
There is the iridescence
Of fish. And fruit. Big, small,
Furred, smooth, all ripe,
Overripe, straining against
Their skin … The air is perfused
With fruit, spice, sweat and sea.
NIGHT
All asleep now.
He takes a drag on the balcony.
A mother is the jagged coastline of a country.
ON HIS EXCURSIONS
He is forever coming home, you see,
Which grows bigger in shape, bigger, more solid, more rock —
[The sun once again. Curtain lifting.]
about the author
